“Thinking about it… I-I think that might be it…”
“The one you want to date isn’t Gray Coat, but Taewhan?”
“D-Date him! Taewhan is my friend!”
“I know he’s your friend, but why does that matter?”
“…Huh? Ah, no…”
I was taken aback by his completely nonchalant counter-question.
Cha Taeyang patted my shoulder, which had frozen with my mouth open.
He was completely unfazed, as if asking why I would worry about such a thing.
“People can be friends, then lovers, and even spouses. Why are you being so narrow-minded?”
“Spou…!”
My mouth just hung open, unable to finish the word.
Spouses?
Me and Taewhan as spouses?
My goodness. I had never thought in this direction, so my thoughts completely halted the moment I heard it.
The problem, however, was that I didn’t feel bad about it.
Instead, I felt like I had been punched, and I had to clamp down on my mouth with my hand to stop a strange gasp from escaping.
‘Since I’m gay, it’s possible that I could be in love with Taewhan, who is a man.’
The ‘conditions for a lover whose body I can allow myself to give’ that Taewhan had mentioned earlier, he passed all of them.
I definitely felt sexual attraction to him.
I thought his naked body was beautiful, I felt good when Taewhan touched me, and kissing him was great, never unpleasant.
I even felt good when his large member went into my throat.
I also felt proud that I was his first…
But… it wasn’t the sort of feeling where I could definitively say, ‘This is it!’
‘What if it’s just because Taewhan is uniquely familiar to me?’
Should I judge so hastily?
This was a friendship that had lasted over 20 years.
Thirteen of those years were spent in a hospital, strengthening our bond through the most difficult times.
We were unique to each other, a special relationship for which there were few examples in the world.
I didn’t want to jeopardize our precious and solid relationship by being swayed by an unfamiliar emotion like ‘love.’
If this was just a mistake I made because I was new to the world and unfamiliar with ‘love,’ and that fleeting mistake were to harm our relationship even a little, wouldn’t that be incredibly regrettable and sad?
Most importantly, while I felt good being physically intimate with Taewhan, it was similar with ‘Gray Coat.’
My heart pounded when I was in his arms, and kissing him wasn’t bad.
I even recalled the moments we spent breathing together for days. I definitely felt sexual attraction towards him.
That’s why I realized I was gay in the first place…
However, if it was true that I harbored romantic feelings for Taewhan, separate from all that, another problem arose.
My face was now completely drained of color, pale, as I looked at Cha Taeyang.
“W-What if that’s the case?”
“What is? What are you going to do?”
“I-I made a promise. The date.”
“Ah, Gray Coat.”
“Yes…”
Should I cancel the appointment now?
I was tightly wound, waiting for an answer, but Cha Taeyang just curled the corner of his mouth with an uninterested expression, as if asking why I was worrying about such a thing.
“It seems like you should just go, no need to do anything else.”
“B-But… he’ll think I showed up because I was interested. He’s a busy person, and I’d feel bad for wasting his time…”
“Ugh. It’s fine. Jehee, think about it. It’ll be a bigger problem if you don’t go. You’re not planning to cancel after making a date, just leaving him a quick message, are you?”
“No, of course not. That would be rude to him.”
“Right. So just go out. Gray Coat is open-minded, so I bet he’ll understand if you tell him honestly.”
“…”
How could he speak with such certainty?
While Cha Taeyang might have built a friendship with ‘Gray Coat’ while clearing Dungeons, this was about a very private matter—dating—not monsters or Dungeons.
Even I have known Taewhan for a very long time, but I don’t know anything certain about love and relationships…
Why was Cha Taeyang so confident when talking about ‘Gray Coat’s’ feelings?
Regardless of how trustworthy he was as a mentor, I couldn’t really trust his judgment on this matter.
“Just go out. Go out and think about it.”
“I will go out…”
“Right, your lunch date is tomorrow, isn’t it?”
“Yes…”
I had no choice anyway.
The appointment was already scheduled for tomorrow, so I couldn’t do anything about it.
Since I couldn’t avoid it, I was wondering if I should just go to sleep early today to prepare, when Cha Taeyang suddenly grabbed my shoulder.
His face was filled with some kind of determination.
A very intense determination.
“Alright. I’m in a good mood! It’s such a monumental day, we shouldn’t train any more, so how about we go out?”
“Go out? W-Where to?”
“Shouldn’t I buy an outfit for our mentee, who’s going on their first date! Let’s go!”
“No, wait. Keep your voice down…”
Damn it. His voice was incredibly loud. Loud enough to echo through the training room and the hallway.
And there wasn’t a single person in this guild who wouldn’t hear a voice that loud.
Especially when it included a stimulating word like ‘date,’ these people would hear it like ghosts.
Sure enough, half a dozen people immediately swarmed the training room, and the door was thrown open.
“Leader. Leader, what’s going on? Where is our youngest going?”
“Kids. Good timing. Let’s all go out together!”
“Oh…”
I tried to grab Cha Taeyang’s clothes and argue, asking what he meant by “go,” but before I could, sparkling eyes were focused on me.
My body instantly froze rigid.
“Jehee, are you really going on a date? Is this your first one since the hospital?”
“Ah, well, it’s… my first time.”
“Wow! A first date. If our leader is cheering you on, he must be a good person, right?”
“If you’re going to doll yourself up, I’ll help! I’m confident in my fashion sense, believe it or not!”
“Jehee is worth dressing up. Let’s go right now.”
“Is the leader paying for everything?”
“Yes, yes. Of course, I’m paying.”
“Wow, what a surprise. Jehee, you have to take advantage of this. He’s an incredible cheapskate, contrary to appearances, so this isn’t an opportunity that comes every day.”
“Hey! But keep it reasonable!”
“We know. We know very well. Keep it reasonable!”
Most of the people who had flocked in naturally started preparing to go out.
Even those who had urgent matters that forced them to leave begged me repeatedly to send photos.
“Ah…”
I couldn’t stop the members of the ‘Sun’ Guild, who had somehow become united by the cause of ‘helping our youngest succeed on their first date,’ and I was just frozen, until they finally seemed to notice my distressed expression.
They quickly exchanged glances, came closer to me, and smiled.
“If you’ve already finished preparing, Jehee, it’s fine. We’ll just cheer you on from afar.”
“Preparing… well, that is. I haven’t done it yet.”
Since this was my first time going on a ‘date,’ I wasn’t sure what to wear.
Taewhan, who usually took care of my fashion, had offered to buy me clothes, but I refused.
My feelings were still strange whenever I saw his face, and if he were to even choose the clothes I wore on a date, my heart felt like it would collapse, so I just couldn’t ask him.
‘Ah, I was consciously trying to avoid Taewhan a lot, wasn’t I?’
The realization hit me suddenly. My heart churned, but now was the time to focus on the guild members.
Anyway, if I were to just go out wearing what I usually did, I wasn’t particularly stylish, and I was worried about whether it would be appropriate, so if I could get help, I would be grateful.
What should I do?
After some thought, I decided to accept their kindness for now.
I bowed my head.
“P-Please take care of me…”
“Excellent. Let’s leave right away!”
“Ack.”
“Let’s go!”
Cha Taeyang embraced my shoulder as if he had been waiting, and I was half-dragged along.
When I came to my senses, I was in the ‘Sun’ Guild’s van, which they mostly used for group activities.
…How did things end up like this?
The matter had become much bigger than I expected.
The start was clearly ‘one outfit needed for the date.’
But once we arrived at the store, they kept handing me clothes to try on in the dressing room—try this on, that would suit you, too—and after repeating that process, I ended up holding two shopping bags, with a suit added to the pile.
Was that all?
Perfume, basic cosmetics, mouthwash, and even snacks.
Four shopping bags were completely full.
